FBI: Accused mosque bomber had cache of guns

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Michael Hari is seen in this July 2017 booking photo after being arrested on an assault charge. (Ford County Sheriff's Office via AP)

FBI: Accused mosque bomber had cache of guns

Michael Hari is seen in this July 2017 booking photo after being arrested on an assault charge. (Ford County Sheriff's Office via AP)

ST. PAUL, Minn. — An FBI agent has testified the accused Illinois militia leader charged with organizing the bombing of a Minnesota mosque kept a cache of guns, including assault rifles that were altered to be fully automatic.

The Star Tribune reports that in pretrial testimony in federal court in St. Paul Thursday, special agent Joel Smith said he found four shotguns and four rifles with serial numbers scratched off in a duffel bag tied to 48-year-old Michael Hari at the home of the defendant’s friend in Clarence, Illinois in February 2018.

Federal prosecutors allege Hari and two others drove from Clarence to bomb a mosque in Bloomington, Minnesota, in hopes of scaring Muslims into leaving the U.S. No one was injured in the August 2017 attack at the Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center.